Seven crews are preparing in Valparaiso for the start of the fifth of six Globe40 legs: The starting signal for the penultimate leg of the circumnavigation for Class40 duos will be given in Valparaiso on Wednesday. From 18 February, the race will cover 4800 nautical miles, or 8900 kilometres, to the last stopover in Recife before the final spurt to the start and finish port of Lorient begins with the sixth leg on 29 March.
Globe40: from two directions to Recife
Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink will also be back in the final. The Next Generation Boating Around the World team was Retired on stage three with mast damagereturned to La Réunion. The youngest crew in Globe40 had repaired the boat there. In the meantime Melwin Fink and his transfer crew with Sebastian Dziwisch and Oliver Schultheiss have long been on their way to Recifewhere the German duo will be looking to attack once again in the final stage.
First, however, the German trio had a weather-related stopover in Gquberha (formerly Port Elizabeth), from where the three men have since set off again, heading for Cape Town. A final stopover is planned there before the boat is taken across the South Atlantic for the last stopover and rejoins the Globe40 fleet. On Monday afternoon, Melwin Fink announced: "Now we're celebrating the Atlantic and in 100 miles we'll be at the Cape of Good Hope."
For the other seven crews, an ocean mix lasting just under a month is on the programme for stage five: first they will head south from Valparaiso along the Chilean and Argentinian coasts down the Pacific, then up the South Atlantic to Recife. "And now Cape Horn!" were the words of anticipation from the Team Crédit Mutuel camp, which is just two points behind the leading Team Belgium Ocean Racing - Curtium in the overall standings after the prologue and four stages.
Winning duel between Belgians and French
The two scow bow boats from Belgium and France have been battling it out since the start of Globe40. A thrilling duelwhich was a three-way battle worth watching until Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink retired in the meantime. Skipper Ian Lipinski returns on "Crédit Mutuel" after a one-off retirement and contests leg five with Antoine Carpentier, as in the opening line-up.
For the Belgians, owners Benoît Hantzperg and Djemila Tassin are taking a break after beating their team's already high Class 40 24-hour record of 559.78 nautical miles on leg four. Skippers Jonas Gerckens and Corentin Douguet are heading for Cape Horn for the Belgians.
Reaching Cape Horn from Valparaiso is not common in our profession." Corentin Douguet
The French have won four out of five legs so far. They shared the victory on leg four with the Belgians because the race organisers could not be sure which boat was in front due to the lack of a finishing boat. However, third place in the fiercely contested final of La Réunion cost "Crédit Mutuel" dearly with nine serious points. The Belgians were able to win this important third leg with triple points, which is why they were 15 points ahead of "Crédit Mutuel" (17 points) before the last two legs.
"Wilson" crew starts stage five from fourth place
The two top boats battling it out for the Globe40 victory are followed by the Spitzbug Class40ies. Lennart Burke and Melwin Fink have now dropped back to sixth place after abandoning leg three and not sailing leg four, despite such a strong performance previously. They have been overtaken by José Caldas and Luiz Bolina with "Barco Brasil" (35.50 points) and Lisa Berger and Jade Edwards-Leaney with "Wilson" (46 points) in third and fourth place. Here are the intermediate results after the prologue and four of the six stages.
The results on the upcoming fifth stage count double, as do the results of the final stage. Lisa Berger and Jade Edwards-Leaney want to maximise their points in the final sprint. They have worked hard to get their "Wilson" back into top condition in Valparaiso. Unlike some other teams, the Austrian and her Welsh co-skipper operate on a modest budget and do all the work themselves. The "Wilson" crew is also looking forward to Cape Horn with great anticipation.
Cape Horn! It means so much more than just being the Everest of the oceans... And for a sailor, it's a big life goal." Jade Edwards-Leaney
With powerful waves and strong currents, the fifth leg will once again differ significantly from the previous challenges in Globe40. The Cape Horn Passage is one of the most demanding in races around the world. All seven two-handed crews have prepared for this. The "battle cry" comes from Jade Edwards-Leaney, who said in Welsh: "Give it your all!"
We are excited, rested and ready. Iddin Galad!" Jade Edwards-Leaney
Viewed through Belgian glasses - an outlook on the upcoming fifth Globe40 stage from Valparaiso to Recife:
Tatjana Pokorny
Sports reporter
Tatjana “tati” Pokorny is the author of nine books. As a reporter for Europe's leading sailing magazine YACHT, she also works as a correspondent for the German Press Agency (DPA), the Hamburger Abendblatt and other national and international media. In summer 2024, Tatjana will be reporting from Marseille on her ninth consecutive Olympic Games. Other core topics have been the America's Cup since 1992, the Ocean Race since 1993, the Vendée Globe and other national and international regattas and their protagonists. Favorite discipline: Portraits of and interviews with sailing personalities. When she started out in sports journalism, she was still intensively involved with basketball and other sports, but sailing quickly became her main focus. The reason? The declared optimist says: “There is no other sport like it, no other sport with such interesting and intelligent personalities, no other sport so diverse, no other sport so full of energy, strength and ideas. Sailing is like a constantly refreshing declaration of love for life."
